Karen Always Said
by laputa619
Summary: Ethan Waber is in love with Karen Erra,but something is standing in the way. If Ethan really wants Karen, he'll have to put his life on the line to defeat the infamous space pirate, Roth Slader. I DO NOT OWN PHANTASY STAR UNIVERSE. REALLY I DON'T
1. Chapter 1

This is the new revised version of Karen Always Said. This is not one of those revisions that makes only a couple of changes NO! The whole thing is completely different. I mean MAJOR changes. but it's disclaimer time, so...

I do not own Phantasy Star Universe or any of it's characters.

* * *

If it were only some other place, some other time, maybe the events that transpired in the Relics could have been avoided. Ethan knew what she said to him was for the better, but he couldn't help being upset. He knew very well those words could effect their effectiveness in combat, and more importantly, their friendship, but his love for Karen was too great to be held swelling within him. He let out a sigh and sprawled out on the bed. How could she not see she was everything to him? Tears blurred his vision as he lost himself in anguish. In his mind he was dancing with her, but his dreams were rudely interrupted by the blaring ringer on his vision phone. He empty-mindedly stumbled across the room and pressed the answer icon on the screen. A boy his age with a purple shirt and silver hair appeared before Ethan. "Hyuga."

"Hey, Ethan. About the relics.."

"I know what happened."

"As you should." He said. "That was pretty heavy stuff back there."

"It was a mistake. It was not my place to say those things."

"You can't blame her for responding the way she did, Ethan. She didn't know what to do; it was too abrupt. Just give her some time to think it over, and maybe she will change her mind."

"I wish I meant something to her."

"You mean a lot to her, Ethan. She speaks very highly of you."

"You could have fooled me."

"Whatever. I called to tell you we're going back to the Relics tomorrow. We meet at the Perum flyer base six o'clock. Be there ready. Later, Ethan. Karen does care about you, a lot. Remember that."

"Later Hyuga." With that he ended the transmission on his vision phone. He looked at the clock. "Nine –thirty…" He mumbled to himself. He picked up the picture of Karen he kept with him. They have been on only two missions together, but he already wanted to spend the rest of his life with this girl. Instructor or not he loved her. No one stood out to him anymore but her. Karen Erra could not have been more perfect for him. He replayed the day's events in his head again.

_The doors slid open and Ethan, Karen and Hyuga rushed through. "Clear!' they all yelled as Karen motioned the professor to come through. He raised his handgun and cautiously rushed in after the guardians. _

"_Ethan, take point." Karen ordered._

"_Okay." Ethan replied, advancing to the front of the squad. They kept moving until the reached an open area on the path. He raised his hand, instructing his team to stop. Staying low, he walked into the opening. He darted his watchful eye from here to there, being sure to leave an accurate assessment of the situation. A subtle noise got his attention, but he quickly regained focus. A sudden explosion sent him flying backwards. He rolled out of the fall and raised his rifle, searching anxiously for movement. Two more explosions violently shook the ground. He followed the trail they left behind them to reveal the location of the source. He couldn't tell exactly what it was, but he shot off a burst of rounds at the creature. It leapt from it's cover onto the platform where Ethan stood. _Damn…_ he thought. _Bil De Vier. _He kept a cool head, just as Karen taught him. He saw more figures maneuvering through the complicated architecture. _More of them… Two? No.._ he argued with himself. They too jumped in to vision. _Just one! _His head screamed. "Engage!" He commanded. Karen burst out from her cover. _

"_Professor! Stay back!" Hyuga ordered, following Karen into battle. They both drew their weapons and attacked the beasts. Ethan quickly replaced his rifle with his saber and joined them. His blade clashed against the Bil De Vier's thick skin. It threw a punch at Ethan but he leaped away, firing his ice infused handgun at the creature's face. Ice crystals formed around its eye and jaw, and it bellowed in pain. Ethan took this chance to climb up it's back and drive his blade into it's shoulder. It roared once more and desperately tried to swat him of as he repeatedly stabbed the beast. Eventually it succeeded and threw Ethan off of it. It clutched its shoulder in pain. When Ethan landed, his saber slipped from his fingers. The monster shrugged off the injury on it's shoulder and rushed over to Ethan, furiously pounding the ground. He crawled away in panic towards his sword. The creature realized his tactics and slammed it's fist in the path to Ethan's blade. In a flash of courage he rolled between the beast's legs, drawing a shotgun. Once standing, he unloaded all of its shells into it's back. The creature uttered a deafening roar as it fell dead to the ground. Without hesitation Ethan sprinted to Karen and Hyuga to aid them in their fight. _

"_Ethan! Hyuga! Offensive position delta!" Karen commanded. The two rushed the monster, drawing heavy swords. They used all of their momentum in a single slash at the creature's legs. It toppled over as Karen ran backwards to intercept it's fall. Just before it hit the ground she jumped onto it's neck and jammed her knife into it's eye. It screamed with agony and viciously punched Karen, sending her flying. _

"_Karen!" Ethan cried horror horror, running to her. He fell to his knees and slid the rest of the way. "Karen! Karen!" She was unconscious. "Wake up! Please, wake up, Karen!" he bowed his head over her and screamed. She couldn't be dead, not now! "Oh god, no! No!" Karen squinted open her eyes to see Ethan, the Ethan she knew to be strong and confident, letting his tears freely flowing over her. _

"_Ethan? What's wrong?"_

"_Karen?" Ethan lifted his head in disbelief. She sat up and gave him a concerned look. Ethan tried to regain his composure but could not hide his relief. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. "I thought you were dead." He sobbed, tightening his grip. "Karen…" he started. "Karen I… I love you…" _

"_Ethan…" She sighed. "Im sorry, but…"_

That was all Ethan could bare to remember. He put the picture away, and curled into sleep.

* * *

See? DIFFERENT. I plan to make some more changes, and don't worry, Karen will come through eventually. I don't think that counts as a spoiler because you all knew she would anyway. Review the new installment and there will be more to come soon!


	2. Chapter 2

here it is, chapter two of the new Karen Always Said! Remember if yall liked the old one better I am happy to switch them out.

But anyway, its disclaimer time.

I do not own Phantasy Star Universe or any of it's characters.

* * *

Karen was sore. Everything hurt from the battle in the Relics. _Nice punch…_ she thought, clutching her stomach. The door to her room glided open. She stumbled in and collapsed on her bed. She was proud of their battle today. Her team executed the offensive maneuver perfectly, and command would surely recognize her instruction methods. _Ethan took that one down by himself! _She thought, envying his confidence. Oh yeah, Ethan. She still had no idea what to do about those events. She sat up and sighed. _Maybe I made a mistake…_ she thought, eyeing her vision phone. Of course she didn't make a mistake. Ethan was a pupil, not a lover. He couldn't be; it was strictly against protocol not to mention regulation. She never had those feelings for Ethan, but then again… she sprung up and hurried to the phone. She slammed her fingers across the keyboard as the screen scrolled through various contacts until it zeroed in on Captain Stone, her commanding officer. _I could ask him make an exception… _she thought as the phone rang. Finally someone answered. A man who appeared to be in his late-thirties to mid-forties blinked onto the screen. He was muscular and had his _very_ fair share of scars. "Karen. I was meaning to call you."

"Yes Captain. I have called to request a-"

"Forget the mission in the Relics. Our informant on Moatoob has intel about rouge families assembling an planning an assault on the Guardian's branch. We don't know when this is going down so we are sending the informant back in for further investigation. We are assigning to security detail. Your job is to escort him through the desert and protect him from any danger. Any encounters with the rouges is a fatal threat to the operation, so a stealth team will take over the escort two clicks south of the target point. Get some sleep and depart immediately in the morning. The informant is an important man, so you will be meeting here in the colony."

"…Yes sir."

"Good. Tell your team right away."

"Sir, wait!" Karen yelled as the man's image flickered off the screen. The Captain was a good man. He was hard, but fair, and Karen would go into battle with him any day, but he was… thick. _Now I have to face Ethan… _she thought, sprawling back onto the bed. She couldn't think about this now. The job started early the next morning and she was not about to let this little conflict with ethan get in the way of it.

* * *

Ethan woke from his slumber earlier than usual. His phone displayed a message from Karen.

"Captain Stone has placed a different team on the relics mission. Report to the central table as soon as you get this message for intel on our next assignment."

He nodded. Of course he was sad about Karen, but he couldn't let that obscure his duty as a guardian. After the necessary preparations, he left the barracks. The Central Table was as bright and lively as ever; people were bustling around and couples sat by the fountain. It was the same every day. He spotted Karen, and cautiously made his was to her. "Uh… Hey." He greeted awkwardly.

"Good morning, Ethan." She replied.

"No more Relics?"

"No. Captain called it off."

"I see."

"Lets wait for hyuga before the briefing."

"Ok." The wait has horribly uncomfortable for Ethan. She was so professional all the time; it was like she forgot anything ever happened. Hyuga finally arrived with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Hello my friends!" he sang as he joined the group.

"Hyuga." Karen acknowledged.

"What's that in your hand?" Ethan asked, eyeing the paper suspiciously.

"It's a girl's phone number. HA-HA!" he yelled, waving it in Ethan's face. Ethan snatched it from his hand.

"Dude," He started. "This only has three numbers on it."

"Give me that!" Hyuga commanded, grabbing the paper back. He stared at it for a minute, and bowed his head with a sigh.

"If you two are done making fools of yourselves, we have work. Recently Command has received intel of a rouge attack. A grouping of families is planning to raid the guardian branch in Dragora. The Tylor Family, in debt to the guardians, has refused to participate in the attack."

"Why is he in debt?" Hyuga asked.

"A while after the elimination of the Seed, The Endrum Collective took over their hideout in search of more A Photon Reactors. We mobilized half of the team to take care of that. Alfort Tylor and the Guardians are on rather good terms now. Anyway we still have no idea when this attack will take place. That's where we come in. Our informant has connections with one of the leading families in the attack. We need to escort him through the desert to the rendezvous point. We need to keep a low profile and avoid any contact with the rouges."

"Yes Ma'am." They replied in unison. The team headed to the headquarters to pick up the informant. The restocked their photons and items, and boarded the shuttle to Moatoob. When the shuttle landed, each of them cautiously yet inconspicuously made their way to the flyer base. Ethan and Hyuga went to board the G-Flyer, but Karen stopped them.

"No flying today. Captain said stealth is of the utmost importance in this mission. A shuttle would be too noticeable. We'll be fine with any ground-based transportation as long as we stick to the walls of the canyons. The AMF has supplied us with a Striker tank for the first leg of this mission. The rest will be on foot." The two nodded and walked on. A door slid open to reveal a large garage filled with armored vehicles. "That's our unit." Karen said, pointing at the tank. "I'll drive. Hyuga, you will be navigating. Ethan, you are on the cannon. Mr. Kian-"

"Kian?" Ethan asked.

"Yes. Mr. Kian is the informant. Sir, I would like you to stay behind us at all times. That means in the tank, you ride in the back."

"I understand." Kian nodded. They climbed in and headed away from Dragora.

* * *

ooh mission time! This revision will have a whole lot more elements of the game, so if yall have questions about creatures or anything i am happy to clarify. Comment please!


	3. Notice

alright this is how this is going to work. Y'all need to give me some feedback on whether this story is worth continueing, and if the old version was better than this one. If the old one was better i will put it back on in stead of the new one. If it sucks i'll scrap the idea, but if people like it than ill continue to make progress in the story. I apologize about my lack of updates, but school and my band are taking up most of my time. leave a review with your opinion.


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